Imprinters typically used in recording credit card sales transactions may be broadly classified as the type having variable data imprinting means and the type capable of only recording preset data contained on the imprinter and the credit card. An example of a credit card imprinter of the type which merely records the information on the credit card and the information on the dealer's plate affixed to the imprinter is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,424 (Barbour). The printer has a generally horizontal upper deck which supports the purchaser's credit card and a dealer plate affixed to the deck containing the dealer's name, address and identification code. The multi-ply credit card receipt is placed on the deck above the credit card and dealer plate and then a roller is translated across the deck imprinting the raised indicia on the credit card and dealer plate onto the multi-ply receipt. The dollar amount of the sale and other information, such as the date and cardholder's signature is then written on the receipt by hand.
A current trend in the industry is to use optical reading equipment to process the credit card receipts. Optical reading equipment cannot reliably read handwritten dollar amount due to the wide variation in handwriting styles. It is, therefore, necessary to imprint the dollar amount on the receipt with a type wheel if the receipt is to be automatically read by optical equipment. A number of credit card imprinters having dollar amount wheels which can be set by the user are presently available. An example of such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,716 (Barbour) which employs a number of toothed racks, each of which engage a gear formed on a rotating type wheel. The user positions the handle portion affixed to the rack to set the dollar amount of the transaction. Each of the type wheels act independently of one another.
A problem with conventional credit card imprinters capable of printing variable data is that the devices tend to be bulky and occupy a great deal of counter space. Credit card imprinters are typically placed on a counter adjacent a cash register and the counter space is often very limited. In addition, imprinters having variable dollar amount type wheels are frequently expensive, as these mechanisms are relatively complex.